"My poor Nellie!" cried Madge. She and Phil were leading their tired horses along the road. "I shall never forgive Harry Sears for leaving her by herself and chasing all over the country for help. What an idiot he is!"
"Sh-sh!" Phil comforted her, although she herself was quietly crying. It was so dark that no one could see the girls' tears. "Don't blame Harry. He did what he thought was best at the time, although it seems silly to us now."
It was Harry, though, who at last found his rain-soaked handkerchief tied to the branch of a tree. He had held a dark lantern up by every bush or tree that he passed in the neighborhood where he believed he had left poor Eleanor.
"I've found the place, I've found the place!" he cried triumphantly. "Just a minute, Eleanor, and we will come to you!" He ran toward the spot where he remembered to have left Eleanor. Madge hurried after him, Phyllis keeping tight hold of her hand.
Harry's cry had thrilled all the searchers. Jack and Lillian came next to hunt, with Mr. Preston close behind them. They stood together under the tree where Eleanor had lain. The dark lanterns lit up their haggard faces. Eleanor was not there!
"You have made a mistake in the place, Sears," declared Jack.
Harry reached down and picked up his own coat. "No, this is my coat," he declared.
Madge dropped to the ground, shaking with sobs. She had found Eleanor's little, soft felt riding hat.
"Children," urged Mr. Preston, "don't be so alarmed. It is very natural that, when we took so long to find the poor child, she got up and wandered off somewhere to get out of the rain. I will rouse the neighborhood and we men will search the woods and fields. We will inquire at all the farmhouses in the vicinity. Why, we are sure to find Eleanor. You girls must run along home and wait until morning. I can't have you all ill on my hands with pneumonia."
Miss Jenny Ann, Mrs. Preston and Miss Betsey were crawling out of the phaeton when Mr. Preston led three of the girls back to "I can't go home, Jenny Ann," insisted Madge. "It was my fault that Nellie is lost. Uncle and Aunt will never forgive me."